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Suntech Power, a one-time icon of China’s solar industry, announced today that it has defaulted on $541 million of debt due to holders the company’s 3% convertible notes on March 15.

The default has triggered cross-defaults of other outstanding debt, including loans held by the International Finance Corp. and Chinese lenders, the company said in a statement (see text here). It is seeking support for a consensual restructuring among note holders, and has already entered into a forebearance agreement with more than 60% of them.

Former Suntech chairman Shi Zhengrong, a China-born Australian national, returned home after earning a Ph.D. there to become one of the best –known faces of the country’s solar energy industry in the past decade, appearing during that time on the Forbes Billionaires List and Forbes Asia’s “Heroes of Philanthropy” list.

However, the industry has of late been plagued by excess supplies and financial problems among Western governments that can’t afford to subsidize solar purchases. Shi was replaced as Suntech chairman earlier this month. Suntech’s shares trade in New York.

Worries about industry losses and debt have knocked the prices of other shares. In Hong Kong today, polysilicon maker GCL-Poly lost 7.8%. It reported a $452 million loss for 2012 last week. (See related story here.)

Suntech announced last week that it would close its plant in Goodyear, Arizona. Forty-three staff will be affected (see statement here.)